Manifest

“What are you doing with that acorn?” Jimmy Squirrel said to his best friend Tom.
“It’s the perfect size,” Tom replied. “I’m going to drop it in the big field.”
“What for?” Jimmy queried.
“`Cause a huge oak is just a nut that held its ground,” Tom smiled and the banter began.  Every fall they played at words [...]

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What about this business of “perception equals reality”?
Any truth to it? 
Any power in it?
My Dad, when sassed by any of us kids, often said:
“Oh, I’ll make a believer out of you.” 
As I look back, I chuckle with the realization that he so often did, with those simple words.
We never knew whether he had the [...]

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The sun’s crest peaked over the horizon as Jerry slammed his trunk shut and stepped onto the course, armed to the gills with clubs and a scorecard.Dew glistened on every blade of grass. Alone, Jerry squared his shoulders and teed off. He watched his first shot drop half a foot inside the deep rough, bent down, grabbed [...]

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The opossum scuttles across the road, glimpsing briefly at the headlights that unexpectedly lit its path.
The birds rest, heads tucked under their wings.
Even the bugs have found a leaf or blade of grass on which to sit.
`Tis 4 A.M., the bewitching hour, when muses fly and fairies whisper in our ears.
I get so excited in [...]

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“Momma’, more boo-boo, right now,” the baby squeaked for the fourteenth time in sixty seconds.
As a raw, bundle of emotions, she displays an uncanny sense of urgency about what she wants, and no compunction whatsoever about demanding it repeatedly until she gets it.
As young children, we all had that urgency.
Over time, complacency eases its way [...]

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The buck bounded forward, leapt once, straight into the car.
“Thud.”
I watched the animal bounce backward twenty or thirty feet before it came to rest just past the shoulder on the grass.
“What happened, Daddy?” Linus asked, startled.
I tried to pull myself together.
“We had an accident, son,” I answered. “A deer jumped in front of [...]

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The boy skirted the majestic lake thinking of her as he so often did.
He followed the dirt path that rose as high as twenty feet before dipping to the water’s edge only to climb again.
He walked aimlessly, content to have a direction laid out before him.
“To love her, I must embrace her fully,” he pondered. [...]

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A while back, one of my brothers made an error at work, which cost a client a bunch of money.
They leveled accusations, pointed fingers, ranted and raved, filed a lawsuit and after a failed attempt to settle the dispute, ended up in court—a typical insurance company battle.
Oh well, stuff happens.
On the one hand, I take [...]

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“How much further to the waterfall?” the little boy asked.
“Up around the bend, champion,” the old man answered with a chuckle.
“That’s what you said last time, Paw-Paw.” The boy paused. “What’s a champion?”
The old man gazed down upon his grandson before answering. 
“A champion is someone who believes they can win and who keeps on trying [...]

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